I had some short stories, poems and photographs to share ... and so here I am

A Year Of Shamelessness !

 

Hey, my blog is one-year-old today! Yipppeee! So where are the presents and cake and champagne?

 

 

 

 
 
Oh, thanks. That was really very sweet.



My very first blogging post was on February the 8th, 2006. I kicked things off with this beautiful picture that I took in the US in 2005:


"Doesn't a scene like this just make you want to write something glorious?" I wrote back then.

The blog wasn't up and running straight away. It took me another month to really pick up my stride. But oh the words that came after that. A whole year of words. Hundreds of posts. Probably enough to fill up a three-book series. It's been great, really. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.


But ...



Now, sadly, it's time to say goodbye.



That's right ... farewell.



It was a pleasure putting all those posts together.



I've had a blast.



We've done lots of writing.



I've done loads of great reading.



We've laughed together.



We've learnt loads.



Don't be sad.






Eat your cake and have a good laugh.


Oh, sorry, let's rewind a bit.


What I meant to say was that it's time to say goodbye ... to all the old posts.


Because we have to look ahead now to another wonderful year at Shameless Words.


Yippppeeeeeeeee.


Haha. Got you! :)



I always wanted to have a melodramatic moment on my blog. To make you go: "Oh no! Don't go!" It was cruel, I know. How Shameless of me! Some of you - I now realise - may have even been thinking: "About bloody time we got rid of that one. Shameless? There's been nothing remotely Shameless on his blog! Just bloody annoying lions!"

Don't worry. I am definitely hanging around. I wouldn't have wasted all that time stretching my blog skin sideways and making my fonts big and brash!

There are poems to write, short stories to create, books to publish, books to read, new blogging buddies to make, new talent to discover. How I will find the time, I have no idea. But I am here for the next part of the journey.

My visitor clock is now at more than 9,000. Wow. You guys rock! And I really look forward to celebrating this blog's second anniversary with you.

Go forward shamelessly!

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't go Shameless - please - oh! you're not - bloody tease.

:)

Happy blog birthday

S. Kearney said...

Skint, the other tease, we are totally glad you are still in our electric waves too! :)

Now, what's the next post?

pundy said...

Congratulations, Shameless, a year is a long time in blogging terms. I'm so glad you're continuing too -for a minute there you had me worried.

S. Kearney said...

Pundy,
There is something addictive about blogging, especially when it is so close to our writing passions! :)

I'm glad to see that your back doing posts. How was NZ, by the way?

* said...

Hi Shameless, and happy blog birthday. Hope the next year brings even greater blogging moments...(and yes you got me at first)

S. Kearney said...

Peggy, hi, welcome back!

Sorry about the cruel trick. I know it was bad, and suffice to say I've slapped one hand with the other!

Have we linked yet? I'd like to add you to my sidebar. :)

* said...

Thanks Shameless! that would be really nice. I'm going to put up a link up right now. I spent some time on some of your older posts and I felt rueful over having missed some of them (The Joyce Carol Oates pop quiz, for ex.) Ah, but isn't that part of the fun?

Anonymous said...

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Second, you got me for sure - I was horrified! Third, I can't believe you've only been going for a year. Yours is one of just a handful of blogs that I look in on regularly, and you feel like a very old friend indeed (believe me, I mean that in the nicest possible way).

Roll on Year 2!

Unknown said...

Happy Blogday dear, Shameless.

Is it a year already? I am hot on yer heels.
And you didn't shut me up, at all! I am still trying to used to your new size, you fill me screen and spill over the sides - big boy!

S. Kearney said...

Cath,
Hello and welcome back. Thanks for the kind words. I've also liked getting your messages over the past year, but there doesn't seem to be a link back to a blog. Do you have a web page? :)

There's something very nice about having regular readers and contacts. :) And I'm honoured to be considered like a very old friend.:)

S. Kearney said...

Ahhhhh, Minx, (eyes water) one of the very first to have left a message here on my blog, way back then, and still coming back for more! Wow, that's a blogging bond. :) I always look forward to your visits and comments. This place wouldn't be the same without your charm and wit. Please promise that you won't stop your brand of you-ness.

And, isn't it grand that Skint and Pundy popped up for my first birthday bash!? My trick about disappearing must have worked then. :)

Now, I hope there is no serious damage being caused by me filling your screen, and "spilling" out the sides?! :) Do you still see all of me? Are you missing out on some of the shamelessness?

Also, are things downloading too slowly, now that things like pictures are bigger, etc: I suppose it depends on connection speeds. Let me know.

Minx, I look forward to this new year ahead, with you in tow, or me in tow. :)

S. Kearney said...

Peggy,

You are linked! :)

Anonymous said...

Shameless, you had me there for a moment. I was starting to tear up, when...Yay, Shameless isn't leaving! Happy Birthday, Shameless. :-)

S. Kearney said...

Thank you, Jefferson.
Sorry to tease you like that! :)
It's good for a man to cry though, so go ahead! :)

Saaleha said...

Happy blogger birthday Shameless!

I have a looong way to go before I get there. Sometime in August. And the new look does take adjusting to. But it makes the multi coloured lion look awesome :-)

The Moon Topples said...

Happy belated blogday, Shameless. Makes me wonder if I'll make it that long.

You didn't scare me with your tease (much). You're too shameless to bail on us.

Will there be 26 more lions this year?

S. Kearney said...

Thanks Moon,

You must be busy reading all of those fantastic entries in your competition. Wow, there's some good stuff bubbling there!

I'm reading them all through, trying to work out where my votes go. I'm chopping and changing.

Another 26 lions this year? No, something better - 26 different poses of my cute little Muffin! :)

Suzan Abrams, email: suzanabrams@live.co.uk said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Suzan Abrams, email: suzanabrams@live.co.uk said...

Shameless...
you are a true writer, you know.
Many writers talk about all kinds of things but you talk about the art (books, poetry, writers, writing with a fair bit of skiing and painting thrown in.)
All of which I personally find to be wholly inspiring.
Don't go ever...please.
Happy Blog Birthday
Big Hug

S. Kearney said...

Thank you Susan,

It's great having such a big blogging mix, with all sorts of things available for us to munch on.

I'm staying. That's decided. :)

I wonder what that deleted comment was? I think it's the first time I've seen that on one of my blogs. Someone lost their nerve?

Maybe it was President Putin, wanting to tell me to keep up with the blog! :)

S. Kearney said...

No, not Putin, I've just worked out that it was Susan.:) Nothing mysterious then. Probably just a slip and then posting again. I do like the mystery of a deleted comment though. :)

Suzan Abrams, email: suzanabrams@live.co.uk said...

Yes, I'm the culprit, Shameless.
It was a duplicate comment. :-)

Sorry about that. If you've allowed Blogger to inform you of comments on your email & this through Settings (Dashboard), you can always read any deleted comment.

btw, when I described you as a true writer...I think more accurately placed would be that you are a writer's writer. :-)
cheers

Debi said...

I'm very very cross, you bad, manipulative Shameless person you. You DID get me going and now I feel foolish ...

I'm never ever going to come here again.

I'm afraid your blog does take an eternity to download and on occasion when I'm really pushed for time, I confess I've given up and clicked out.

Never mind. Doesn't matter. Cos I'm never ever coming here ever again. Ever.

Not even if you offer to share you birthday pressies with me.

Unless they're chocolate, of course.

Marie said...

Happy Blog Birthday!

Anonymous said...

Happy Blog Birthday!! One year, so cool.

And yeah, you got me. I was like, gah, not other one! Glad to see you have much more to share.

Bhaswati said...

You got many innocent ones, myself included. Although I was late to come to the party, I enjoyed the celebrations and the atmosphere.

Keep your posts AND the lions coming, Shameless. :-)

S. Kearney said...

Dearest Debi,

All of my presents and the chocolate are coming your way! Truly! I'm not sending the champagne though, because you will just get really silly on it and then regret it!
Sorry about the downloading time. Do you have dial-up or cable? I wonder how many others take time to see all of me. :)

Marie,
Thanks for the comments. I must check to see if we are linked up or not? Are we? We should be. I'm on to it.

Jason,
It seems many were taken in, which was the aim, to rattle everyone and give them a nice birthday surprise: that I'm staying! Yipppeee. It's true there are quite a few blogs that have fallen by the wayside recently, which makes me sad. I love visiting your site.:)

and Bhaswati,
Yes, one of those loyal to my lovely lions! :) They will keep coming .. well a few more anyway.
Thanks for joining my birthday bash!

S. Kearney said...

Marie,
Yes, Deep Thinker is up, but not Lost Soul. This will be rectified soonest! :)

unarex said...

I'm all for 26 pix of Miss. Muffin this year. Happy Bday. I celebrated mine (with popcorn and all) back in November. But one of the things that makes your blog fun (and I try to do with mine) is that you don't just talk about one thing, but you keep it diverse and unpredictable, which is always good.

PS- and it's the same day of Anna Nicole's death, and well...oy. That's all the tabloids are talking about here in the US. Oy. (Again).

S. Kearney said...

Jessica,
Thanks. Miss Muffin says hello!:)
And I think she's also in love with Oscar. I've showed her his pics!

We try our best to keep things varied on the blog, like most people. I enjoy reading your posts, too, which have a certain edge about them - in a good way.:)

I look forward to reaching new heights in 2007. Keep up the good work, and my fingers are crossed for your writing projects.

Debi said...

I have broadband - so you can't get out of it that way.

Anyway, I'm still cross and only came here to say choccy hasn't arrived yet. And now I demand the champagne too - how dare you suggest I'd get silly and regret it? Ask anyone who knows me - I'm frequently silly and NEVER regret it.

S. Kearney said...

Muffin! What are you doing with those chocolates that I had all packaged up ready to send to the Motherland! Shoo, Shoo, Shoo.

Debi will be cross with you now too, you silly Moppet!

Oh, dear, guess we're done for. Where's the champagne? We might as well just get silly and regret it.:)

Broad bean? You get along here with a broad bean connection? No wonder you're having problems!

Debi said...

Now that's what I call REALLY shameless!

You blame the cat? How could you??

And to make matters worse, you pretend I haven't already busted your secret wide open ...

Folks, listen up! Muffin and Shameless are one and the same!

S. Kearney said...

purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!